Languages evolve too but much more quickly. The British who came to America spoke the same dialects of course, but this changes in one generation. We pick up

Languages evolve too but much more quickly. The British who came to America spoke the same dialects of course, but this changes in one generation. We pick up the dialect of the people that we are exposed to as we learn speech, so likely back then family was more influential then now, especially if you lived in the country. And, of course, how we speak was influenced by the native population. I grew up near the Onondaga Reservation in New York and probably speak a bit like the people who live there.